United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
Abstract
DOT-FH-11-8100From bridge rail information of 51 State highway agencies and personal interviews with five selected highway agencies, current state-of-the-art of bridge railing safety performance was assessed. Based on the analysis of 14 specific railing designs, an estimated assessment of the performance of bridge rails on a national scale is presented. The data indicates that a significant percentage of existing railings may be below currently attainable safety performance standards. Bridge railing designs are grouped into four categories according to profile geometry and features that are amenable to a common retrofit design. Two categories, II and III, represent about 82 percent of existing installations. Five retrofit designs for Categories II and III were developed and evaluated by a 22-crash test program. Although not crash-test evaluated, an improved approach guardrail design features a thrie beam rail element and a breakaway cable terminal
